Signal device for indicating cooking temperatures of waffle irons and the like



March 24, 1931. 1 F. LAMB 1,797,427 SIGNAL DEVICE FOR INDIOATING COOKING TEMPERATURES OF WAFFLE IRONS AND THE LIKE Filed Dec. 18, 1928 Joseph E Lamb Patented Mar. 24, 1931 UNITEl'Df TES} Josnrn F. MB, or new iiarrnimcollinnc'rronm, As en 'ro LANDERS, FnARY &

CLARIL'OF New BRI I .oonnnorxcune oonrormrron or oonnnorrcnr sIenAL mmmoa emm coox'ine TEMPERATURES or ,WAFFLE IRONS Ann .s LIKE v I l 1 A plic ti n filed December is, 1928,1 SeriaIlJlTo; 326,794.

"The aim of the present invention' is' to v provlde an 1mproved,s1mplified and accurate arrangements forgiving a visible jsignal when the grids o1": an'electrically heated waffle' iron orithe like have reached that degree of heat which is necessary to properly cook thebatterp 1 P f Afurther aim of thein've'n'tionis to pro.- vide a signal device of this sort which iss'imple in construction, which maybe readily assembledupon the waffle' i ron,whicl 1 maybe very easily and quickly adjusted to indicate that temperature of the iron which is {most desirable for cooking, and-which will accomthe parts under heat changes.

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Fig. lisa front elevational view o'f-that modate itseltto expansion-and contraction of 1 Astill further'aim of the invention Other obj ects will'be inlpart obvious and in V part'pointed out morein-detail hereinafter. The invention accordingly consists \in the 'ie aturesof construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which; will be exemplified :mthe construction hereln-oo after set forth and thescope of theiapplication of which will be I indicated u the ap'-' pended claims." V 4 In the accompanying drawings, wherein; I haveshown, for illustrative :purposes,;one of the many embodimentswhich' the (present inventionm'ayitake:x'

Figure l is anqaevaaonal view showing,

more or less? diagrammatically and partly in brokenlines, a waflie iron equipped-with the signal devicezof the present/invention,

the shutter of the/signal device i being illustrated by dotted linesin the position which it assumes whcn'the iron has been heatedto the correct temperaturey Fig; 2 1s slde elevatlonalview ofwthe s1gnal'dev1ce,s'o much of the waflie llol'lbellig shown, partly in section and partly in elevaas is necessaryvto disclose: the rin'stallation portion ofthejcasingbehind which the signal tion which restsu'pon a flange or'ledge pm} videdon thefgridlfZ. 7 Refer-ringno'w to the improvements 'ofthe present invention, there is located above the (heating unit'and within the top cover gl t a device i t e signal a'a'ce' ban shown more or less diagrammatically, as it is obvious that the improvementsof the present invention may be incorporated in waffle irons of varioussizes and shapes, and the specific constructionofthe wafile iron forms no part of the present invention. The waflie iron is Y shown as having a baselO' upon Which is mounted the lower grid ll. 1 The upper grid, 9

designated by the numeral 12, is hinged'in the usual manner so as to be swung into and out jofposition, this arrangement not being illustrated as it is anold and well-known one.

Carried on the topofthe grid 12 is a heating unit which is enclosed by a casing The are allencased or housed in a top coverfle which, as usual, ism'ade of sheet metal pressed to the desired form. f-The top cover, inth'e present instance, I has a cylindrical skirt porthermostaticelement which-carries (preferblank an opening in the skirtportion of the cover and which-shutter, when the iron is hot,

is moved byth'e' thermostatic bar or member away. from the opening so-that a fixed colored surface behind that opening iseXpos'ed to View,ind'icatin'g thatthe iron has reached-the desired degreeof temperature. The opening inthe top cover 14: is indicated by thenu- 1 i -meral 25 and ispreferably located at the front 7 a top plan view of the signalde in which Opening 25: is located, i a: fixed v expansion.

surface 26 which is colored, such as red, so as to contrast with the color of the top casing and the shutter. This surface 26 may be provided on a generally U-shaped bracket 27secured to the cylindrical wall of the casing 13.

The thermostatic member, in the present illustrative disclosure of the invention, is the form of a straight strip 28 of thermostatic metal and, if desired, may be made of two strips of metal having different *coetiicients of One end of the thermostat c member 28 is secured to a bracket or angle iron piece29 which, in turn, is secured to the top of the casing 13 insuch manner that the thermostatic member 18 generally dlspo'sed radially with respect to the wa-flle-iron. The

member, which is movediby the thermostatic able shape or configuration but is shown, in the present instance, as having, at one side edge, a generally curved or semicircular-re cess 81. The plate portion 30 1S carriedby an arm 32 whichpreferably is in the form of'a strip integral with the plate 30. This arm extends-upwardly from'the upper edge of the plate 30 and then extends rearwardly. The arm, between its ends, istwisted on a longitudinal axis through substantially 90 -in order to provide a portion 33, the width of which lies in a horizontal plane, and a portion 34, the width ofwhich' is vertically disposed for the purp'osehereinafterdescribed more in detail. i e 7 Q The arm 32 is connected to-the thermostatic bar 28 for sliding or telescopic movement in order to permitthe device to automatically adjust itself to variations in the dimensions I of the parts when such parts are subjected to heat changes. This connectiomin the present instance, consists in forming the rear end of the arm 32 with a guideway which slid'ably receives the free end of the thermostatic bar 28.1 More particularly, the arm is provided at its rear end and at'itsopposite side edges with wings 35 which are bent-over laterally and thentowards each other in order to provide a channel or guideway for the reception of the thermostatic member- 28.

. The operation of my improved mechanism will be readily understood from the foregoingdescription taken in connection with the accompaniynig drawing. When the iron is v cold, the parts will be in the position illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 and in which-position the shutter or plate-3'0 will blank the opening-'25" so that the surface 26=is hidden from view. As the iron-heatsup, the thermostatic member 28 will flex and will move the shutter 30 circumferentially, in the present instance to the right, referring to Fig. 4. When the shutter has thus been moved to a position. where the plate 30 is entirely out ofthe range of the opening 25, that is, when the plate hasreached the position show in 1, he cook will now see, uponlooking at the opening 25, a redspot defined by the V edge or that opening and will, therefore, .knowthat the iron has reached that degree ofheat for which the 'inechanisin has been setas the cooking temperature. It will thus be observed that thesignal is easily understandable and can be very quickly read, for, so long'as the. hole 31 is totally or partially blanked by'theshutter, the iron is known as not being "hot enough 'for proper cooking and, as soon-as the opening-has been entirely uncovered, .it' is known that the iron has reached the, desired degree of temperature.

As previously pointed out, theshutter is slidably mounted on the thermostatic bar, afeature which is of impo'rtancein that the shutter may Joe-manually adjusted radially, and*the shutter will automatically adji1st;fitself in aradial direction-should such automatic adjustment be necessary due to 'change's in dimensions in the parts of the waffle iron.- Owing to its ability to self-adjust itself, the shutter will not unduly drag on-thecover'1 1 or the bracket 27 in the event it should engage'the same, and the parts may bema-d-e with'relati'vely large't'oleranees, a

feature of importance, as, in articles of this sort, it is necessary to provide large tolerances .for the --sake of economy in manufacture. It will also be observed that the shutter or plateportion'i30 may be adjusted vertically by merely bending the portion 33 of the arm 32.. Furthermore, the plate portion may be adj ustedlaterally'with respect to the thermostatic bar 28 by bending the 7 portion 34' of the arm 32. In order to insure that thetop coverv is positioned upon the grid 12 in proper relation -"to the signal" device, the front face of the plate 3(lmayhave a circular score mark 36 of the'same or very slightly smaller diameter than that of the hole or'opening 25. In securing the cover in place, the cover 1 isfirst; positioned with. the opening 25 concentric to thescore mark, and then the screws or other fastening means for securing the vcoverin place are tightened up. 7

As many changes could bemade in the-above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without. departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter containedinvthe above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpretedgas illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

, It iis also torbe understood that-the language used .inthe following claims is in- I tended to cover all of the generic and spe cific features of the invention herein de scribed and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, mi ht be said to fall therebetween. 4

f claim as my invention 1. A signal device for indicating cooking temperatures of waffle ironsandthe like, and comprising a vthermostatic element, a member adapted to be moved thereby, and a colored surface exposed to view when said thermostatic element has moved said memher to a predetermined position, said member being slidably mounted on said thermostatic element. Y c

2. A. signal device for indicating cooking temperatures of wafiie irons and the like, and

comprising a thermostatic bar adapted to flex under heat changes, a member adapted to be moved thereby,a colored surface adapted to be exposed to view when said thermostatic bar has moved said member to a predetermined position, and a connection be tween said member and theremostatic bar permitting said member to move longitudinally of said bar, said connection comprising a sleeve-like portion connected to said member and slidably receiving said bar.

8., A signal device for indicating cooking temperatures of wafitle irons and the like, and comprising a thermostatic bar, a shutter adapted to be moved thereby, and an arm carrying said shutter and connected to said bar, said arm comprising a relatively thin I strip of metal twisted between its ends through substantially 90 to provide portions at right angles to one another adapted to be bent to adjust said shutter.

4:. A signal device for indicating cooking temperatures of waiiie irons'and the like, and comprising a thermostatic bar, a shutter adaptedto be moved thereby, and an arm carrying said shutter and having longitudihousing said casing and provided with an opening in its circumferential wall, acolored'surface behind said opening, a radially disposed thermostatic bar connected to the top'of said casing, a shutter disposed between said openingand surface, and an arm carrying said shutter and slidably connected thereon, a cover housing said heating-unit and grid and having a skirt portion provided with an opening therein, a fixed member behind said opening having a colored surface, a thermostatic bar within said cover and arranged to flex in a planeparallel to the plane of said grid, and a shutter carried, and 1 entirely supported by, said bar normally lo cated between the portion ofsaid skirt having said opening and said surface.

JOSEPH F. LAMB nal sliding movement on said bar, said arm comprising a relatively thin strip of metal and having a portion, the width of which lies in one plane, and another portion, the width of which lies in a plane at right angles to the'first plane. V

5. In a signal device for indicating cooking temperatures of wattle irons and the like and in combination, a grid, a heating unit thereon, a casing housing said'unit and having a skirt portion provided with an opening, a surface behind said opening and adapted to be exposed to view when said opening is unblanked, a thermostatic bar within said casing and adapted to flex laterally, and a shutter slidably carried by said vbar and adapted to be moved thereby to and from position behind said opening.

6. In a signal device for indicating cooking temperatures of waflle irons and the like and in combination, a grid, a heating unit mountedthereon and having a casing, a cover 

